Refrigerator cabinet



CC w, 194?A E. D. DRAKE REFRIGERATOR CABINET Filed Jan. 13, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet l v INVENTOR. -/Q D /QA KE ec. l, i947. E, D, BRAKE 2,432,563

REFRIGERATOR CABINET Filed Jan. 15, 1944 2 Shee'tS-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Patented 16,11947 REFRIGERATOR CABINET Earl D. Drake, Greenville, Mich., asslgnor to Gibson Refrigerator Company,' Greenville, Mich., a corporation of Michigany C Application January 13, 1944, Serial No. 518,052

6 Claims. l

This invention relates to cabinet doors, and more particularly to doors for refrigerator cabinets.

In the past considerable diiculty has been experienced, particularly in refrigerator doors of the so-called full covering type, in obtaining a good heat seal between the door and the refrigerator cabinet to which it is attached. Any diierence in parallelism of the front of the cabinet and the inner face of the door results in a variation in contact between the door and the sealing gasket, or the cabinet and gasket, depending upon which member the gasket is attached to, and heat leaks occur. Itis nearly impossible to make a door from sheet material and provide the requisite parallelism,l

The door can be made exible enough to permit it to Warp slightly to conform to theI cabinet, but such a door is prone to sag and lose its generally rectangular shape, That causes difiiculty y in maintaining the heat seal.

The present invention is designed to overcome these difficulties by providing e. door that is rela tively flexible in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the door to permit it to conform to the shape of the front of the cabinet, yet is relatively rigid in the plane of the door to prevent sagging. of the latter.

This object is attained in part by forming a flexible outer door pan of relatively thin sheet material and providing the outer door pan with means for stiifening it in the plane of the door. At the same time the stiening means is so constructed, and so connected to the door, that the latter is relatively iiexible in a, direction perpendicular to the door. The inner door panel which must be provided in order to properly seal the "insulation from the entrance of moisture, as well as to ornament the door, is relatively loosely con nected to the door by a molding within which the inner panel is slidably received.

The objects of the present invention will become more apparent in the following specification when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a front elevational view of a refrigerator cabinet having a door embodying the in=- vention;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the door taken from the inner side thereof and with the inner door panel and its associated molding removed;

Figure 3 is a'fragmentary sectional view of the complete door taken on substantially the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a pictorial view of the equalizing means for the door stiffener; and

Figuresq, 6 and 7 are respectively fragmentary cross-sectional views of the completed door taken on the lines 5, 6-6 and 1-1 of Figure 2.

Figure 1 of the drawings illustrates a refrig- (Cl. 2li-3%) erator cabinet 1 to which a'y door I0 is connected by hinges 8 at one lateral side thereof. The door is provided with a latch (not shown) having a handle The door lll comprises an 'outer door pan it of generally concavo-convex shape. It has a relatively flat front, outer wall, and a perimetrical side wall l2 extending laterally therefrom. The perimetrical side wall may be formed from sepam rate pieces attached to the outer wall, but prefer ably the entire outer door pan is formed from e. single piece of sheet material, preferably either sheet metal or plastic, About the top and two up-l right sides of the side wall is an inturned flange 6? which substantially parallels the outer wall of the door. The flange t3 is notched at the two upper corners of the door, as indicated at it, tor a purpose which will presently appear.

The bottom portion of the side wall it is provided with an angle member it having an upright flange l5 located in the same plane as the flange t3.

A relatively heavy reinforcing angle member It, bent into U-shape, extends about the top and two sides of the door. The vertical leg oi the angle member it is juxtaposed to the inside suru face of the flange i3 and is secured thereto in any suitable manner.

The parts of the door just described are essentially quite flimsy unless made of relatively heavy material. Hence, it is braced by a stress equal izing stiiiening device. In the present invention the stifiening device comprises four elongated tie members il which are pivotally connected at their outer ends to the angular reinforcing member i6 adjacent the corners of the door. The tie members are arranged in pairs converging toward the center of the door. It will be noted that the vertical leg of the angular reinforcing member is oiset toward the interior of the door, as at i8, to receive the ends of the tie members l'l in such a manner that the latter will not extend beyond the plane ofthe anges i3 and l5. The outer ends of the tie members are received in the notches itl in the flange it.

The ends of the tie members adjacent each other are connected together by an equalizer denoted in general by the numeral lli. The equal izer is shown best in Figure 4. It comprises two bars m20 which are normally spaced apart and which are generally parallel to each other. Each bar 20 is formed of two strips. of metal juxtaposed to each other to form spaced apart parallel openings 2l extending in the plane of the door. The two openings 2| receive threaded bolts 22. The heads of the bolts 22 engage one of the bars 2U. Nuts 23 threaded on the other ends of the bolts engage the other bar 20.

The ends of each bar 20 are pivotally connected by rivets 24 to the adjacent ends of one pair of sheaves means for holdingthe metal strips of each bar 20 together.

It will be evident from the foregoing that when the nuts 22 are drawn up tightly they tend to pull the two bars 20 toward each other and thereby place the tie members I1 under tension. That tensile stress is transmitted to the outer door pan, making a structure that is extremely rigidin the plane of thev door. Due to the peculiar construction of the equalizer, however, the stresses imposed upon the tie member I1 and the door pan the side wally I2 and to the bottom .part of the reinforcing member by screws 35. l l

After the molding 21 has been attached to the l top and two upright sides of the door as described I are equalized at the four corners of the door.

Thus, there is no tendency for the door to be pulled out of its substantially rectangular shape when the nuts are drawn up on the bolts. The stiffening means only braces vthe door in the plane thereof so that when hung upon the refrigerator cabinet by the usual hinges at one side, the door will not tend to sag.

The stiffening means does not prevent the door from being warped to a limited extent yin a direction perpendicular to the door. Not only that, but when the door is thus Warped it will maintain its Warped condition. Thus, even when the door does not touch the cabinet about its entire perimeter when iirst hung on the cabinet, the door .can be warped sufficiently to make Aa tight contact throughout the perimeter of the door and it will maintain that shape unless distorted by some external force.

The door is completed by an inner door panel 25, preferably of sheet plastic or other similar heat insulating material. The inner door panel shown is provided with a convex rib 28 extending entirely around the door panel and spaced from the perimeter thereof. The rib 26 tends to orna-i ment the inner door panel and at thesame time permits slight expansion and contraction thereof without buckling.

The inner door panel 25 is supported on the door byr two ornamental moldings 21 and- 28. The molding 21 is formed to the cross section shown in Figures 5 and 6. It is U-shaped in elevation and extends about the top and two upright sides of the door. Preferably the molding is formed of relatively soft metal or other malleable material. It has an outer angular bead portion 29 adapted to engage a sealing gasket on the cabinet in the manner disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 518,051, filed January 13, 1944. Spaced from the bead 29 is a web 30 which forms, with the bead 29, an elongated channel shaped recess. adapted to receive three sides of the perimeter of the inner door panel 25.

The free edge of the web 30 extends perpendicular to the latter to form a ange 3|. This flange 3| is bent inwardly at spaced apart points and crimped over the upright leg of the reinforcement I8 to frictionally hold the molding upon the door. The entire ange 9| may be bent against the reinforcing member IB if desired, but it is unnecessary to do that to hold the molding in place.

The bottom molding 28 is a straight one piece member formed to the cross-sectional configuration shown in Figure '1. It comprises a bead 32 similar to bead 29 and a web 33 spaced from and paralleling the bead 32. Together the bead 29 and web 33 form a channel to receive the bottom edge of the panel 25. The molding 28 is also provided with a flange 34 which extends beneath and parallels the bottom portion of the perimetrical side wall l2. The iiange 34 is attached to The channel shaped recess is above, but before the molding 28 has been attached, the irmer door panelj can be readily attached to the door by inserting the upper end o! the panel into the lower ends of two sides of the molding and sliding it vertically in the recesses adapted to receive it. When the panel 25 is in position the lower molding 28 is slipped over the bottom edge of the door panel and is attached to the door by the aforesaid screws 35.

The door panel 25 is not crimped into the recesses within the various moldings, but is permitted a limited sliding movement therein. Thus,

vi-t will be seen that the door panel does not to any substantial extent reinforce the door nor interfere with the proper functioning of the stiiening means above described.

From the-foregoing it will be seen that the y present invention provides a novel means for stiiening a door in the plane thereof, yet permitting the door to be warped or flexed laterally so as to conform to the frdnt of the cabinet when the door is closed and latched. The invention also provides a novel means for holding the inner door panel on the door Without interfering with the proper operation of the stiffening means.

The scope of the invention is indicated in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a door comprising a generally rectangular concavo-convex door pan composed of relatively flexible material and adapted to be supported from one lateral edge thereof, and means for stiifening said door pan in the plane thereof while permitting flexing in a direction normal to the plane thereof comprising a plurality of separate tie members connected at their ends remote from each other to said door pan at widely spaced points about the perimeter thereof, adjacent ends of said tie members being positioned adjacent the center of the door opening and spaced from each other, and adjustable equalizing means connected at spaced apart points to the adjacent ends of all of said tie members for placing the latter under stress and dismembers are pivotally connected at their remote ends to said door and pivotally connected at their adjacent ends to said equalizing means.

3. n door as defined in claim 1 wherein there are four tie members arranged in pairs converging toward the center of the door, and said equalizing means comprising a pair of spaced apart substantially parallel bars, and means for drawing said parallel bars toward each other, each bar being connected adjacent its ends to adjacent ends of a pair of tie members.

4. In combination, a door comprising a generally concavo-convex door pan composed of relatively flexible material and adapted to be supported from one lateral edge thereof, reinforcing means for the perimeter of the door pan connected thereto, and means for stiffening said door in the plane thereof while permitting flexing in a direction normal to the plane thereof comprising a plurality of separate elongated tie members connected at their ends remote from each other to said reinforcing means at widely spaced points, adjacent ends of said tie members being positioned adjacent the center of said door and spaced from each other, and adjustable equalizing means connected at spaced apart points to the adjacent ends of all of said tie members for placing the latter under stress and for distributing the stress about the perimeter of the door pan.

5. A door as defined in claim 4 wherein there are four tie members arranged in pairs converging toward the center of the door, and said equalizing means comprises a pair of spaced apart substantially parallel bars and means for drawing said parallel bars toward each other, each bar being connected adjacent its ends to adjacent Lends of a pair of tie members.

6. In combination, a door comprising a generally rectangular concave-convex door pan composed of relatively flexible material and adapted to be supported from one lateral edge thereof, and means for stiiening said door pan in the plane thereof while permitting flexing in a direction normal to the plane thereof comprising four tie members arranged in converging pairs, each pair/ of tie members being connected at their ends remote from each other to said door adjacent adbetween said bars.

EARL D. DRAKE.

REFERENCES, CITED Thefollowing references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,307,094 Yoxsimer Jan. 5, 1943 2,122,155 Schlatt June 28, 1938 207,569 Thompson Aug. 27, 1878 278,890 Curran June 5, 1883 2,311,045 Goulooze Feb. 16, 1943 

